Quick Cornmeal

By Chef Nancy Berkoff, RD, EdD, CCE

Cornmeal is flour ground from dried corn until it becomes a fine, medium, or coarse powder.
This common staple food is often found
near the salt and flour in the grocery store, and it’s
great to have on hand if you’re looking to make a hearty
and semi-fast meal (fast to mix, a bit of time to bake).
Depending on the type of corn used, cornmeal can
be white or yellow; both varieties work equally well in
most recipes. Once you’ve picked out and purchased
your cornmeal, make sure to store it in an airtight
container until ready to use.

Cornmeal mush is a thick cornmeal pudding or
porridge that is often cut into flat squares or rectangles
and then fried. Popular in the southeastern United
States, this dish is fairly simple to make. All you’ll need
is 1 part cornmeal to 4 parts boiling water. You decide
the ‘part,’ as in 1 cup cornmeal to 4 cups water, based
on how much you wish to make. Bring the water to a
boil. Place your cornmeal in a large bowl. As the water
comes to a boil, take approximately 2-3 spoonfuls of
the water from the pot and whisk it into the dry cornmeal
until a paste is formed. Pour or spoon the paste
slowly into the boiling water, whisking and stirring
to prevent lumps. When you’ve got a nice smooth pot
of cornmeal mush, cook it to the thickness you would
like. You can let it simmer for approximately 5 minutes
to make sure it is warm throughout.

If you would prefer using your microwave to
the stovetop, you may want to make cornmeal hot
cereal. The proportions for microwave cornmeal hot
cereal are 1 part cornmeal to 4 parts water. For example,
you could use 1⁄2 cup cornmeal and 2 cups cold
water. Place the cornmeal and the water in a microwaveable
bowl and cover. Cook on HIGH for two minutes.
Uncover and stir. Cover again and microwave on HIGH
for one more minute. Remove, stir, and either eat hot
or allow to cool before digging in.

Hot cornmeal cereal can be breakfast in a cup -
just stir in your desired combination of maple syrup,
applesauce, dried fruit, chopped nuts, fruit preserves,
and/or soy or rice milk. It can also be a fast, savory
lunch. Stir in nutritional yeast, vegan shredded cheese
or sour cream, salsa, leftover cooked veggies, leftover
chopped cooked greens, or cooked beans. A school
‘lunch lady’ that we know says her vegan students enjoy
peanut butter-and-jam hot cornmeal for breakfast and
salsa-and-beans hot cornmeal for lunch. For a special
dessert, she adds chocolate or carob chips, chopped
dried apricots, and shredded coconut to hot cornmeal.

Here are some more ideas for items that can ‘soup
up’ your hot cornmeal cereal:

If you allow yourself an occasional indulgence, prepare
hot-water cornbread. Prepare one of the hot cornmeal
recipes, omitting half the called-for liquid to
create a stiff batter. Drop the cornbread batter by
spoonfuls into hot vegetable oil and deep fry until
golden and crispy. This is a traditional Southern dish.

A little less indulgent but almost as tasty is this
baked cornbread recipe. Prepare one of the hot
cornmeal cereal recipes above, omitting half the calledfor
liquid to create a stiff batter. Spread into a baking
dish so that it is approximately three inches thick.
Cover and refrigerate. When cool, you can gently slice
the cornbread into thick strips or squares. Place them
on a non-stick baking sheet, and bake in a 400-degree
oven until crispy.

Here’s another recipe for cornbread that will please
many palates:

Wheat- and Sugar-Free Cornbread

(Makes eight 2-inch squares)

1 cup cornmeal

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup plain, unsweetened soymilk

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

11⁄2 teaspoons powdered egg replacer mixed with 2 Tablespoons
water

1 Tablespoon nonhydrogenated vegan margarine

Mix cornmeal, salt, and baking soda together in a
large bowl and set aside.

Pour soymilk into a large cup and add lemon juice
to ‘sour.’ Combine ‘sour’ soymilk with egg replacer.
Add to cornmeal mixture and stir only to combine.

Use margarine to prepare a 9" x 13" baking dish, a
8" square baking dish, a cast-iron skillet, or muffin tins.
Fill with cornbread mixture. Dot the top of the batter
with margarine and bake until golden, approximately
20 minutes. This recipe doesn’t rise very much, but it
forms a nice crust.

Notes::

To make this mix in advance, measure and combine
cornmeal, salt, baking soda, and dry egg
replacer. Store in an airtight container until ready
to add liquid ingredients.

To microwave this recipe, place the prepared batter
in a 1-quart microwaveable dish. Cover with a wet
paper towel. Microwave on HIGH for 5 minutes.
Remove towel and microwave on HIGH for 3 minutes
or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

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